Afghan Warrior

2006-08-23

Insurgency Increasing in the South

According to the news reports, more than 70 Taliban have been killed in two different operations in the southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces, when Saturday night a group of Taliban attacked the Panjwayi district and clashes started between Taliban and National Police. At the same time the quick reaction forces of the Afghan National Army and NATO forces surrounded the area and pushed the attackers away from the district, which left around 70 Taliban dead. 5 soldiers of Afghan police were also killed during this fighting. NATO aircraft were called in to support Afghan National Police and army troops and NATO soldiers. Even though this was a joint operation of the Afghan National Army and NATO forces, it was the first heavy fighting between the Taliban and NATO since NATO forces took over command of the southern provinces from the US-led coalition on July 31. During an air strike operation in the neighboring Helmand provice, a dozen Taliban were killed and injured. No civilian deaths have been reported from the area.

NATO forces recently took over responsibility for security in the southern province and the situation has been very troubling and these forces face stiff resistance from the insurgents. They have been increasing their attacks since the beginning of this year and 2006 was one of the bloodiest years since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. More than 1500 insurgents, hundreds of civilians and Afghan security forces and dozens of foreign troops have been killed. Every day we hear about one or two suicide attacks. More suicide attacks are happening in Afghanistan than are happening in Iraq, but the civilian death toll is much more in Iraq because the terrorists targets big cities in Iraq, and crowded civilian areas like the capital Baghdad, Mosul and other cities. Also many civilians die in sectarian violence, but in Afghanistan the insurgent activities mostly occur in the southern and eastern provinces because they cross the border and carry out their operations and escape back. They are not very active in the central provinces, western and nothern parts of the country and their activies are mostly limited to the villages and only sometimes they target the big cities. So overall the situation is much better in Afghanistan.

Around 10,000 NATO and ISAF forces have been deployed in the southern provinces and our people are hoping these forces will strengthen the security in the southern provinces so that the reconstruction activities will begin without fear. Security is the main requirement of the Afghan people and if they carry out their operations with the coordination of the Afghan National Army and police they will be very successful because most joint operations with the Afghan forces have been very successful and have prevented civilian deaths. Last week 12 border police were killed by a coalition air strike in Paktia province. If they have radio communication with every provincial security official, it would be very useful to prevent such friendly fire. According to recent reports, the US soldiers will be deployed along the border with Pakistan to monitor terrorist activities, which is a very good decision by the American army. It will be very useful to prevent terrorist attacks. With their modern equipment, they will be more useful than the Afghan army. So we hope they will start putting their troops along the border and once we control the border the terrorists will not be able to cross or escape over the border and the situation will be much better.

2006-08-06

Successful Military Operations in Baghdad

According to the Centcom press release both coalition, Iraqi army and security forces conducted some successful clean up operations against the terrorists in Baghdad this week. During these operations, a number of suspected enemies, including a high ranking insurgent leader, were captured by the Iraqi security forces. These operations were carried out by coalition force observers. These insurgents have been involved in explosive device attacks against the coalition forces, mortar attacks, kidnapping and killing Iraqi citizens. This operation was a great success for the Iraqi forces where the situation in the capital Baghdad has been unstable and dozens of people have been killed recently in different terrorist attacks.

In another operation, coalition forces killed at least three terrorists during an air strike and multiple raids southeast of Baghdad the afternoon of Aug 3. As well as killing 3 suspected terrorists, the ground troops also seized a huge amount of VBIED material. These VBIED were planned to be use against the coalition forces, Iraqi Army and innocent Iraqi people. The material which was uncovered saved the lives of many people. Conducting such military operations against the insurgents is very necessary and it will destroy the ability of the enemies who are killing innocent Iraqi people. We hope the Iraqi forces and coalition forces together continue their clean-up operations against the enemies all around Iraq and arrest those enemies who are killing the innocent Iraqi people. These military operations ended with no death to non-combatants and we hope both Iraqi forces and coalition forces take more precautions during their operations and air strikes in the future to avoid civilian casualties.

Iraq is in a new phase of its progress and democracy. There is a legal government which was elected by the Iraqi people and a parliament which has representatives of all the Iraqi people. The only thing that needs to be done is deal with the security issue, which will hopefully be solved with the help of coalition forces, Iraqi forces and the Iraqi people. Iraqi people can play a main rule now - it's the best time for Sunni and Shiites to join hands and not let the enemies take advantage and add more fuel to the fire. In all Muslim countries, Shiite and Sunni Muslims live together in peace and brotherhood. So I hope the Iraqi people whould also be united. They are one nation and they have one religion so they should keep their unity. One day Iraq will be in the list of richest countries - there are huge natural resources like oil which will improve the life of Iraqi people and help rebuild their country.